Ahh, that makes sense. Just goes to show how easily things are miss-understood when different countries have diffierent meanings for the same word/phrase.

I often have the situation when an agenda has gone out that someone comes to me and says they need something to be included on the agenda.  Because the committee members must have the agenda 3 working days before the meeting, if this new item does not meet that timeframe, and if it cannot wait until the next meeting's agenda, it will be 'tabled', ie does not appear on the agenda but will come under Any Other Business (usually) or Chair's items.

If it is an item that was on an agenda at a previous meeting that was dealt with and closed, but for some reason comes up again, this would be under Chair's Items to raise again (but does not appear on the agenda but will of course be on the Minutes). However, this is where I can see 'Old Business' being useful as it clearly shows to committee members that this has been raised before but for whatever reason, it has been felt necessary to raise again.  As I said before, it can then be looked up on previous minutes or crossed referenced so members can have the previous history of this item should they so wish.

I think if you can be one step ahead of the committee members, and perhaps do their thinking for them, as in putting it under Old Business and providing copies of the Minutes where the item was previously discussed, then they will appreciate it.